Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Ahmedabad: With the Airports Authority of India (AAI) getting aggressive over preventing incidents of bird hits, the number of such incidents reported at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) airport have declined by 50% over the past seven years. In 2010, some 19 bird-hits were reported at the SVPI Airport against the movement of 33,638 aircraft from here. Against this, some eight bird-hit incidents were reported in 2017, when the aircraft movements nearly doubled to 61,134 aircraft.
This means that while aircraft movements have shown a significant growth of 81%, bird hit incidents have dropped. Sharing more details, Manoj Gangal, director, SVPI airport, said, “Safety of passengers is of prime importance to us. We are initiating measures such as using zone guns and bird scaring devices to keep birds at bay. This helps keep probable bird-hits under check and efforts are being made continually.”
Despite stringent measures in place, a major concern that remains for city airport officials is the Asarwa fish market. “The Asarwa fish market falls on the funnel i.e. the aircraft landing route at the SVPI airport. Due to this open market and improper disposal, movement of birds of prey is a concern. However, the matter has already been represented before the civic authorities and they have committed to move the market to a different location,” said a well-placed source.
21/11/18 Niyati Parikh/Times of India